Good DIY Art Projects

Jay Bell

Look out, Picasso, someone's learning to paint!

When we began renovating the back patio and yard, we noticed the picnic table had its best days behind it. This table hosted decades of summer dinners, lobster races, and conversations. But the look and the shaky legs meant it was time to move on.We didn’t throw the table out, though. We needed to get rid of the seats and the legs. But we kept the tabletop, all six feet of heavy, peeling, warping wood. Then, it sat in the basement for a long while. Recently, though, a cloudy day left us hanging around. Scouting for something to do, we rediscovered this table.We decided to turn it into an American flag. Being in Massachusetts, it seemed nice to go with an original colonial style, with the 13 stars. And, being on Cape Cod, it seemed interesting to use starfish instead of regular stars.This mostly turned into a one-day project with a few keys:​

The whole design was based on working within our limitations as non-artists; a beautiful design we can’t pull off is only an exercise in frustration

A little research was helpful to make sure we recreated the flag as accurately as possible

Basic math was important in creating even stripes

Taping off the stripes provided cleaner edges

Practicing the freehand starfish helped figure out the best technique

A hairdryer helped speed up the drying to allow for multiple coats in one day

The table was red. We decided to maintain the original paint, with some peeling that reinforced the age and reminded us of the original function of the table top. This also led to a quicker project. Otherwise, we’d have needed a second day to let the white paint to dry overnight and then to paint the red stripes.

We still allowed time overnight for the paint to fully dry before hanging it. The next day we measured and centered the flag on an otherwise-empty wall on our outdoor shower, screwing from the inside of the shower to leave the flag unblemished.We were really happy with the artwork; with repurposing something otherwise destined for the demolition bin at the town dump; and with bonding over our shared and easy project.It also left us wondering about what else we have kicking around the house that could be converted to one-of-a-kind artwork, and serve as a sign that we’re enjoying the good life – what about you?